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Second Annual Australian
Islamic Schooling Conference
University of So. Australia &
Centre for Islamic Thought and Education
July 11-12, 2017
Curriculum
Integration
Efforts in the
North American
Context
Dr.Seema Imam National Louis
University DAY ONE
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What are the
approaches to
curriculum in
Islamic Schools in
North America ?
Curriculum
Dr.Seema Imam
National Louis University
July 11-12, 2017
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North America’s Growing
Islamic Schooling ExperienceShort history
• Began in the 80s -some exceptions
• Now number 250-300 FT few HS
• Week end schools still thriving today
• Many are remarkable schools
• Numerous models
• Many struggle
• Many new buildings and waiting list
• Huge need for faculty and leaders
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What are the
stories and the
challenges ?
Quickly---just 3
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North America’s Growing
Islamic Schooling ExperienceShort history
• Founders set the stage
• From no stateside qualified teachers
or leaders who were Muslim --to
• Many qualified teachers and leaders
who have left the institutions
• Perhaps no schools with a complete
written curriculum plan
• Almost zero – core Islamic approach
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#1 of the BIGGEST Challenges !
Total Language Learning
approach ---unless Australia has
a different experience !
My experience has been that
Arabic speakers around me
continually said, Arabic is hard
to learn and western Muslims
can be Muslim without Arabic
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#2 Challenge
We always seems to work in
isolation ---management issues
---always getting buy in and
permission.
WE have to build that Ummah
We need to trust our teachers
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#3 Challenge:
I think we have copied & not
created our own model.
FYI---
(This is what I have lost a lot
of sleep over)
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Closing this topic for today
.
Share with you my
experience in Finland
and drive it home to
what we can do as we
think tomorrow about
the road ahead…. For
Islamic Schooling.
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NLU Finnish Study Tour
March 25 - April 1, 2017
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Our Group
16 total
6 full-time NLU (Carol, Seema, Todd,
Jason, Teri, Arlene)
3 ESL adjuncts/practicing teachers
1 emeritus faculty
6 NLU friends, including a professor
from NEIU and principal from NC
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Our Visit
1 week, 3 cities
5 schools: child care center, grades 1-
6, 7-9, vocational high school,
immigrant adult ed vocational institute
Meetings with education leaders from
Finnish Agency for Education
Trade Union of Education
Ministry of Education and Culture
University of Jyväskylä
Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Turku
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Admission to Finnish Teacher Preparation Programs
2015 Vision: Finnish People Always Learn
-The Science and Art of Teaching: research based
-Harder to get into COE than medical or law school
-Only 5- 7% of grads get into COE
-2014: 8,400 applicants for Elementary Ed degree with only 800 slots available total in all Finnish universities (Salberg, 2015, p. 104)
-Matriculation exam; then National teaching exam, then a psychological personality test (no IQ test), then a group interview with 5 applicants given a task to solve – they are observed.
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University of Jyväskylä
Just beginning implementation of redesigned
teacher preparation curriculum with 5 main
phenomena
1. Interactions and collaboration
2. Learning and guidance
3. Education, society and change
4. Scientific thinking and scientific
knowledge
5. Educational expertise
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Finnish National Core Curriculum
Basis of reform:
Norms: Significant increase in number of hours for arts and crafts
Knowledge: Basic/applied research & K arising from everyday school practices
Future oriented:
Need more than subject matter competency
Knowledge of science, math is not enough today or in the future
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Finnish National Core Curriculum
Three Layers
National, Municipal, School Plan
Why reform?
-During last renewal, team
considered FI’s PISA decline
-Response was to focus on the
task of school, “To support the
balanced development of every
child as a human being and as a
citizen.”
-Rethink school culture
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Four Components of Kindergarten: Play, Move, Experience World, and Explore
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Director of the Kindergarten, Klaus
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Outdoor play--2 hours a day, every day
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Whole school Activity
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Kindergarten Teacher
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Individualization: Check those Assumptions!
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Respect for the Child:Self- Assessment in 1st Grade
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Engaging
Classrooms
Textiles
Greenhouse
Animals/Plants
Woodworking
Cooking
Theatre & Art
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Engaging
Classrooms
Kitchen
Music
Game stop
Coding Gr.1
Sewing
Outdoor space
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Policy talk over lunch with Michael Uljens:
Discursive Institutionalism
Coalition governments provide more independence
for the educational administration. To exemplify: in
Finland the national curriculum is accepted not by
the parliament or the Ministry of Education, but by
the National Board of Education as the central
governing authority. This reflects an
institutionalized form of trust on the part of political
powers towards the administration.
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Principal and Deputy Principal at Vesala Comprehensive
School in Helsinki.
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References
Images from:
https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-2661320-stock-footage-finnish-flag-d-animation-
perfect-seamless-loop.html
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/fi.htm
Articles:
Uljens, M., Sundqvist, R. & Smeds-Nylund, A. (2016) Educational leadership for sustained
multi-level school development in Finland. Nordic Studies in Education, 36(2), pp. 103–
124.
Books:
Sahlberg, P. (2016). Finnish lessons 2.0. New York: Teachers College Press.
Uljens, M., & Nyman, C. (2013). Educational leadership in Finland or building a nation with
bildung. In L. Moos (Ed.), Transnational influences on values and practices in Nordic
educational leadership: Is there a Nordic model? (pp. 31-48). Dordrecht, Netherlands:
Springer.
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As we continue toward the best
model of Islamic Schooling.
Let us look at and evaluate:
• Plan for Curriculum—subjects?
Islam at the Core of an
Integrated Curriculum?
• Environment (PIP)
• Teacher Preparation
• Structures and Governance
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INSERT THE TITLE
OF YOUR PRESENTATION HERE
Curriculum
Integration
Dr.Seema Imam
Are we Ready toCreate a Unique & Special Model of Islamic Education
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THANK YOU !
Any Q and A ?
Dr.Seema Imam
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Second Annual Australian Islamic
Schooling ConferenceUniversity of So. Australia & Centre for Islamic Thought and Education
July 11-12, 2017
Dr. Seema Imam, National Louis University
DAY TWO
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Second Annual Australian Islamic
Schooling Conference
The Road Ahead
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Curriculum Integration &
Islamic Schooling The Road Ahead
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Why Curriculum Integration ?
• Is there real Value?
• What can we learn from others?
• What do we do with those efforts?
• Is there a grassroots move-ment?
• Where do WE start?
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Graphic Organizers–starters or use an App
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Graphic Organizer
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Everyone of us can start by
Thinking about the connections in Curriculum.
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How will we move forward?
• Agree on a personal level to graph what we are teaching or planning.
• Agree to share documents ------google docs.
• Brainstorm and capture those thoughts.
• Connect those thoughts to academic subjects.
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CURRICULUM TEAMS
• Groups of Individuals
• Committees by subject
• Committees by school
• Committees by district
• Need a big parking lot with stickies
• Keep connecting until we have the stickies placed in a curriculum plan
• WE NEEDISLAMIC EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENT ---SELF DEFINING
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Make Education about
Enactment No longer can we do what we always
did, because, if we do---we will get --
what we always GOT.
The world has changed
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What do we integrate in
Islamic School ?• Literacy Social Studies
• Math Art
• Science Creativity
• Listening Social Skills
• Writing Thinking
• Speaking Technology
• Presenting Visual learning
• Viewing Creating
• Curating Building
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The Road Ahead is ACTION:
• .
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But---what is missing ? A lot !
• Way we are thinking has to change
• We need materials
• We need that written plan
• What is our framework?
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Way we are thinking has to
change
• It takes a lot of professional to do this work.
• Scholars from the field of Ed
• School Leadership has be a part of the effort
• Sholars of Islam
• Not going to authored by one person----Reviewed & reviewed by many & revised often
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We need materials
• Biographies---all levels
• Atlas, Timelines
• Picture books for young children
• Historical fiction
• True Historians
• Non fiction information books/ websites
• TO NAME A FEW
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Great new book for our
youth in Islamic Schools
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The Gracious Quran in modern phrased interpret
ation in today’s English:
Well researched-20 yrs
Interpretation Scholar
Grad of U of Chgo and
Al-Ahzar in Cairo
Dr. Ahmad Zaki Hammad
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Strong Reference Materials for Teachers and Students
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Knowing the Prophet (pbuh)---must for all teachers in
order to share the essence of his life—and teacher
characteristics with all.
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Reading past and present in context for our students.
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We need that written plan
• We must realize this is a long process
• We are countering a negative public curriculum ---images of Muslims –demonizing so we have to start knowing and planning for this –Stance---
• LESSON PLANS all levels
• UNIT PLANS all levels
• CURRICULUM GUIDES ----------references---Digital Libraries
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TO Build our schools
• Momentum
• Contemporary Practice
• Real Discussion about T & L
• Create the Model---study the best of Teachers (PM pbuh)
• Focus on Curriculum and Teaching
• Plan Assessment no time today)
• Continuous realistic evaluation
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TO Build our schools
• Collaborate
• Create
• Curate
• Innovate
• WE need to have an
• IMPACT
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By: Dr. Seema Imam
Faculty, National Louis University
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Differentiation
Instruction that responds to student differen
ce in a manner that honors, not suppresses
differences.
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A Differentiated classroom is a roa
d
the teacher takes.
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Particular Accomodations
Everyone can benefit from particular accomodations
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P A R T I C U L A R
• P-lace• A-mount• R-ate• T-argets• I-nstruction• C-urriculum• U-tensils• L-evel of Difficulty• A-ssistance• R-esponse
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Teaching is tied to Curriculum and Curri
culum is tied to teaching. We have to
work on Instruction, our delivery has to
be stellar. It is about our school
philosophy ---teacher and teacher’s
learning philosophy---either create that
as a school or hire like minded faculty.
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Three things
• PROCESS
• CONTENT
• PRODUCT
THE INTERSECTION OF THESE IS DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
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Howard Gardner’sMultiple Intelligences
• Verbal-Linguistic • Logical-Mathematical • Visual-Spatial • Bodily-Kinesthetic • Musical • Interpersonal • Intrapersonal • Naturalistic • Existentialist
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• Get to know about our students’ lives.
• Treat them as individuals.
• Learn about their needs and interests.
• Learn about their strengths and weaknesses.
• Understand their learning styles.
• Provide for differentiation to accommodate the learning needs of diverse learners.
• Make the necessary modifications or adaptations to address students’ needs.
Building Responsiveness to Stud
ents
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What is My Teaching & Learning Style?
• Teaching Style:
– Engaging, interactive, & entertaining
– Understanding, flexible, & yet demanding the best of my students
• Learning Style:
– Kinesthetic and visual
– More left brain dominant
– Resilient
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Earlier I asked what is missing?
• Way we are thinking has to change
• We need materials
• We need that written plan
• We need a strong framework?
• REALITY ----We need to Focus on a model that embraces curriculum, Teaching and Learning simultaneously
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Make Education about
Enactment No longer can we do what we always
did, because, if we do---we will get --
what we always GOT.
The world has changed
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What do we integrate in
Islamic School ?• Literacy Social Studies
• Math Art
• Science Creativity
• Listening Social Skills
• Writing Thinking
• Speaking Technology
• Presenting Visual learning
• Viewing Creating
• Curating Building
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Graphic Organizers–starters or use an App
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Second Annual Australian Islamic
Schooling Conference
The Road Ahead
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Thank you!Q and A ?